First post to ffn. Please enjoy!
"Hey! Listen! Do you hear that?"
Link paused, tense, as he glanced up at Navi, a look of mock annoyance on his face at the interruption, even if the small break on his aching legs after going up so many stairs was very welcome right then. His friend had never steered him wrong before and with how she had been complaining about having trouble flying earlier he had a feeling he really did need to listen this time. Link shut his eyes and strained his ears as he felt Navi land on his shoulder and carefully use his earring as a handhold for balance.
He shook his head slightly-just enough for her to notice, but not enough to dislodge her from his shoulder. No, there was nothing strange to be heard. Perhaps it was a little quiet, and yet-
Navi tugged on his earring. A soft whine escaped him at the jolt she promptly ignored. "That's what I mean! There was music playing a moment ago! This big oppressive organ! Now it's gone! What do you think that means?"
She was right. The only sound to be heard was the tinkling of Navi's wings and his own ragged breath. His eyes darted about the staircase as he carefully turned in place. There wasn't even the chirping and scratching of keese or the clank and clatter of stalfos wandering about. The only other sounds he could make out were the faint, incredibly faint, crackling of fire from the torches lining the wall, a noise he would never have noticed had Navi not pointed out the silence.
This wasn't like the silence under the graveyard. Even there he could always hear a faint drumming in the background; So faint at times he had sometimes wondered if it was nothing more than the beating of his own heart. Then he and Navi had found the horrific source of that sound. The drumming aside, there had been moans and echos, the sounds of things that left a sleeplessness only Navi's light, Epona's presence, and Saria's voice could cure for days afterward. Nor was this the silence of the water temple, where even at its quietest he could always hear the trickling of water. No, this wasn't like those silences at all.
It was unnerving in a way he couldn't place. Something that made Link stand straighter, his ears straining to hear something, anything at all beyond the rush of blood in his ears.
Carefully, Link sheathed the Master Sword, and held out his hand for Navi to stand on. They both knew if danger came she could easily fly away. The only real danger to her were the keese or crows of the field, but after the graveyard, he always felt better having her physically close. He continued forward, though not quite at the run he had before. For once, he wasn't keeping his mind so utterly focused on one thing until Navi snapped that he really needed to pay more attention. This was the sort of silence where he truly did need to listen.
Navi started doing a staccato step on his hand. "Do you think Sheik—er, Zelda? Do you think Zelda's okay?"
Link nodded, expression set in determination. Zelda had saved Ruto from the ice, defended Kakariko alongside him when that big scary thing had broken out of the well, survived seven years all on her own while being hunted down by that bad man. Ganondorf had cheated in the Temple of Time, but Link doubted Zelda would have much trouble until he reached her. Zelda had helped them through so much, helped the people who lived here without even expecting anyone to even offer her a warm meal or a bed or a hug, Link found it impossible to doubt she was okay. She could handle herself, but he owed it to her as a friend to help her; he owed it to Ruto and Darunia and Saria and Impa and Nabooru and everyone else to help her stop the bad man.
Slowly, oh so very slowly, he continued up the stairs. Each step careful, the soft creak of the leather in his boots and the Master Sword's sheathe on his back making Navi's wings flap faster, the tinkling sound a comforting one in the heavy silence. Light seemed to pour in from the windows outside and Link's mind briefly wandered to what could be casting that light. Weren't they too high up for the light from the lava to reach them?
"Look!"
Link's eyes snapped ahead from the light outside. Heavy doors greeted them at the top of the stairs, large, ominous, and something about them made the back of his hand feel warm, but Link paid it no mind. Behind that door had to be Zelda and Ganondorf. It just had to be. He reached for the handle.
"Be careful, Link! Who knows what Ganondorf will do!" Navi flitted into the air, circled Link a few times, then came up beside his face to rest a tiny hand on his cheek. "Are you ready? There's no going back after this!"
Of course he was. The last few months-er, years-had led up to this one fight. Link reached up to gently run a finger along one of Navi's wings and nodded, managing a small smile. At any other time her doing that would annoy him, but here? So close to the end of this mess? It was nice to know he had someone watching his back. Navi bobbed about his head as he took sword and shield in hand again and used his shoulder to shove the door open.
The door was not as heavy as it looked. It gave way so easily Link would have stumbled if the bright bright bright light pouring out didn't make him tense up, ready for a strike at any moment. Navi shouted and he felt her land on his head, already casting protective magic around him as she always did in battle. For a brief second he imagined himself and Sheik—no, Zelda—and Saria and Navi in the woods together, playing music or tag or making flower crowns together while Navi and Proxi danced through the air telling them stories they heard from the Deku tree.
That was his dream, his hope. Once this was over, he and Saria and Navi would go back to the forest. They would find Proxi because she must be so worried about Saria after losing her in their Secret Spot. He would tell the Kokiri who he was and he would make a house big enough for himself out of the ruins in Saria's Secret Spot and they would be together forever and ever like all Kokiri should be. He just had to stop Ganondorf from being such a bully when this light died down!
What greeted Link when it did was the all too familiar smell of blood. This didn't distress him. He had fought too many bad things in the last few weeks for it to. What did, as he blinked the points of light from his eyes, was this:
A man in black and red on the once marvelously-tiled floor, still and silent and torn apart.
A great glittering thing of gold and white, shining like a beacon in the center of the room, the red of the gash across its stomach all the more vibrant against the brightness of its form.
And no Zelda to be seen.
His left hand burned so hot his eyes watered. He tightened his grip to keep from dropping the Master Sword.
The thing of light and gold turned its head around so fast, the veil it wore whipped around her like a banner. For a second, Link swore he heard the sharp pluck of Shiek's harp, but no. It had to be the shock.
Link took a step back. The thing that stood there's face reminded Link a little of the owl who followed him when he was smaller, only not quite. There was something cold there, calculating. Not warm and friendly and long-winded. It felt as if it saw him down to even the most secret places of his heart, to the times he'd cried on Saria's shoulder when he was the smallest Kokiri; to when Saria said it was okay, Proxi could be the fairy for both of them until the Deku Tree found just the right one for Link. Beyond that, there was just something about this thing that was familiar, like he knew it somehow, like he had known this thing since before he had ever been born.
Navi flew in front of him, her protection spell coalescing around Link as she demanded to know who this was, the peal of her voice practically echoing in the silence of the chamber.
"Who are you? Where's Zelda?!"
The thing turned its head forward and lifted a feathered arm, examining it slowly and flexing it, the feathers rising and falling almost like the hairs on a cat.
"I'm right here," came the lilting voice Link had heard only a few hours before. The sound of that voice that had convinced Link the woman in gold and pink was the same person in wraps and bandages and blue who had taught him and guided him where Navi could not. Her mouth did not move as she spoke. It was rather like the owl who had spoken but not, or how the Deku Tree had spoken despite not moving his mouth. Link could hear it in his heart and in his mind and it sounded just like Zelda had
Link lowered his arms, but did not approach. She had transformed before him once, but she was the same person, surely?
"I'm glad you finally made it," she said and there was the confidence of Sheik, of his friend he had known so little about when he'd wanted to ask him to stay, please stay, and play with me a while because everyone says I'm too big to play with now instead of too small.
The veil over her swayed unnaturally as she turned back to the man on the floor, red staining the edges of her tattered silken skirt as she circled him. Every step was punctuated not with a clack against the tile like would be befitted the talons her feet now bore, but the hignotes of harp strings.
"Such a pitiful man. In the end he grew impatient and it proved to be his demise."
She circled the pieces of a man, considering in a way Link had only ever seen when there were ravens around and Navi had to hide in his cap or collar for a while. Seeing her look so different made him worry, but she had been Sheik and then Zelda. Now she was this thing and she probably felt as strange as he had when he first woke up. Why would he think she was different for looking so weird?
Navi's wings tinkled as he sheathed the Master Sword, a gentle hand reaching up for her to land on. In his mind, it was okay: It was only Zelda! If she had wings now and Ganondorf was gone, maybe they could go flying together! Flying high in the sky on the back of giant birds like he dreamed back when he was the smallest of the Kokiri and not the biggest. Well, Zelda probably wouldn't let him ride on her back, but she wouldn't drop him like he thought Kaepora would when he was brought down from the mountain.
Something about Zelda's expression changed as he practically ran to her, mindful only because of the fairy resting in his hand. His friend was smiling, but it was more in the glitter of her impossibly large eyes because her mouth could no longer form a smile. Saria had been right: a real smile could be found in someone's eyes!
"For a moment I thought you would be afraid of me-especially after I had lied to you for so long." Her posture loosened a bit, her shoulders slumping as she turned her body towards him.
Confusion bloomed on Link's face, but he shook his head. Why would he be afraid of her? She had helped him along in this journey. As Sheik, yes, but it was still her, still Zelda. So what if she was a bird now?
"I'm glad. Now that Ganondorf is dead, we can remake Hyrule. Especially now that I have this!"
She extended one long, much too long, feathered arm with a flourish and where her hand would be amongst the radiant feathers was the mark he had seen earlier, the same mark he could feel warm and almost comforting on his own hand. Three golden triangles, two of which were brighter than the third and-
-two?
Link reached for her hand with his free one to look upon the mark there, drawing it close to his face.
"But how?" Navi asked, leaning over Link's fingers. He brought her closer so would have a better view. Her wings gave off another staccato as her feet did that nervous dance once more.
"As I said: Ganondorf grew impatient. Neither of us knew the consequences using our Triforce for so long would hold. I fear I may be stuck in this form permanently."
She withdrew her hand from his and looked down at herself, at the once fine dress marked with vibrant splatters of red, the radiant feathers she was now covered in, and the long sharp talons her feet had become.
"I suppose after wearing the skin of a man for so long, a bird is not so bad. We must rebuild Hyrule either way and in time I will find a way to be a proper queen once more."
She looked from her body to Link, who only smiled up at her. He had always been told there had been something about his eyes and his smile that made people want to open up to him. At least, that was what Saria said. He had a face like one of their fairies, or like one of the monkeys she said had been in the forest a very long time ago. The smile seemed to work as Zelda continued talking, the last bits of tension seeming to melt away as she continued to talk to him.
"In rebuilding, we must also ensure Hyrule's safety. There will be Gerudo who come after us for Demise." Demise? Link opened his mouth to ask, but Zelda only continued to speak.
"He may have had his detractors, but they all saw him as a brother and son. Many of his guards when he came to the castle called him their Beloved Baby Brother instead of their King when he was not in earshot. I can only imagine how they will react upon finding out about his death. We must deal with them first before they take out their revenge on Hyrule."
Link gave her a puzzled look as she began to pace, motes of light falling in her wake as the sound of harp strings, this time more frenzied, echoed across the floor. He'd have to ask her how she could do that now. Furthermore, why had she called Ganondorf Demise of all things? It sounded familiar to him, but where could he have heard that before?
"Then there is the matter of Kakariko. Or, more precisely, what's under it. You did a magnificent job in quieting the spirits there, but the horrors that lay down there could come back. We will need to remove it permanently, even if that means digging the whole thing up."
"Digging it up?" Navi asked, pausing in her nervous dance. Fairies never were good at keeping still unless they were sleeping and Link looked down at her in concern.
"Digging it up or burying it in ash. The horrors from the last war lay down there. I have no intention of using them again. And, to think, everyone there drank that water until the well dried up. I wonder how they'd feel if they had known just what lay in it."
"But what about the people who live there? If you dig up the entire village, the graveyard, what about those who live there?" Navi asked desperately, voicing what she knew Link was thinking when what Zelda was implying finally hit him. Link may have still been ten years old in mind and quiet by nature, but he was not simple. He had talked to those people and those who lived on the mountain, had been offered shelter and food and kindness by them during his travels. Surely when talking about physically removing the horrors of Kakariko, she couldn't possibly mean-
"They can either leave, be dug up with it, or be overrun by lava."
That made a weight sink low in Link's belly now that she had said it out loud. Surely this had to be a joke. Maybe her change and everything bad that had happened in the last seven years was hitting her now that it was over? Maybe once she calmed down she would see how silly she was being?
"And then there are the Zora."
"What about the Zora?" Navi spoke up. Link nodded, imploring Zelda to tell them. Ruto made him feel nervous sometimes, with how she kept talking about whatever an engagement was and acting like a worse bully than Mido, but he liked the Zora! They taught him how to swim and Ruto's father looked funny!
"In the last war, they were our chief enemies while the Gorons remained neutral. They are our next most likely foes. It was their late Queen's death and their King's resulting grief that ultimately put it to an end. With Ruto a sage, the King may let his people start a war again in vengeance. The man simply cannot function while grieving. We must stop them before that happens, for they can easily take control of the lands' water supply if they so cho-"
Navi stamped her foot on Link's hand and zipped up to Zelda, the air jingling loudly in her wake. Link reached for her, trying to catch her but Navi had always been much faster than him, even when they raced through the field with him atop Epona.
"Now, Listen!" Navi shouted, bobbing and weaving before their friend, "What you're talking about is the same sort of thing Ganon did!"
It startled Link to realize that, but Navi was right. The sort of stuff Zelda was talking about was the sort of stuff Ganondorf had done. But there had to be a mistake. There just had to be! This was Zelda! She had wanted him to help save Hyrule! She was his friend!
Did Zelda truly not see what she was doing?
Zelda turned her head—and only her head-sharply, motes of light swirling about her to take in the fairy not a hand's width from her face.
"Of course," she began, the rest of her body turning to face the two of them, "Of course you would not understand. You do not have a Kingdom to protect, to care for, and you are so very young. The only thing you have to protect and care about is this boy forced into the skin of a man. But no more. He will be safe. He will see no harm. I will see to it."
Zelda waved a feathered arm and a light so blinding flared from her body, Link had to shield his eyes. To his horror, he heard Navi cry out alongside a sharp note as she only had whenever he took an awful wound. Only worse, so much worse, in Link's mind as he blindly groped for her.
When the light died Navi was no longer there. His hand only clung to pure white fabric marred with red.
Navi, who had faced horror after horror beside him. Navi, who had the right to leave his side the moment the Deku Tree had said he was not Kokiri by birth if she so chose, only to tell him he would always be HER Kokiri, her little boy, and she would never leave him. Not while she had magic in her wings, a thought in her head, and a heart that beat in her chest.
Navi, who had been Link's only constant companion on this insane, impossible quest.
Navi, who had comforted him and reassured him and cared for him when he felt so impossibly alone.
Navi, who Link had been wishing he could meet for as long as he could remember.
Navi, who was now gone.
A cry rose up from his throat, high and hoarse and hurting. Before he could even register what he was doing, Link unsheathed his sword and charged, unthinking and uncaring. All he wanted was for Zelda to give her back, to give Navi back! This wasn't fair at all! He had helped her! They had helped her! They had come just to help her! Why would Zelda take Navi away? Why? Why? Why?
Zelda rose into the air before he could even touch her. The next thing he knew, there was another sharp note of harpsichord and bright light and he was slammed against the stained glass windows. His back burned-burned worse than when his wooden shield had burned up in Death Mountain and Navi had spent three days healing it afterwards and told him he could cry over the pain, it was fine! She wouldn't tell anyone he had cried, not even Saria.
But now there was no Navi and Zelda was acting weird. He turned, staggering, back aching, and pointed his sword at Zelda again.
She only laughed, such a familiar sounding laugh that made his stance waver. He hadn't heard her laugh like that since they were both little and he had said he would help her.
"Oh, Link. Do not worry. I have not harmed her. You have done me a great service at a great cost. What sort of friend would I be if I took her life and that of the Kokiri? Do not worry. So long as the Kokiri do not leave the forest, they will not be a threat to Hyrule. They and the fairies are content to remain there anyway."
She approached him then and, seeing she was not about to attack him, he lowered his sword, confusion etched on his face. Navi was alive? That made his stomach feel less like lead and he opened his mouth to speak.
"In fact," Zelda cut in, "You will not have to worry about yourself, either."
Light, that awful brilliant beautiful light, flared on the back of Zelda's feathered hand as she came closer to him. Link clutched his left hand close to his chest, hot and burning as opposed to the feeling of sunshine just after a rainstorm it'd had when she had told him it belonged to him. He held his hand close to himself protectively. Something about the sword seemed to pulse as Zelda's fingers brushed his hand. Or was that his own mind playing tricks on him? He looked up to her face to find staring directly at her was like trying to stare into the sun itself with how close she was to him.
"I will not take it. I foresee any wish I make would only turn out badly in the end. Unlike him, I know I have enough power now to accomplish my goals and the patience and willingness to do it myself. I do not need more, I do not need others to do it for me. No, the last piece is safest within you, the only being through the ages who would never bring himself to harm me or my Kingdom."
The sheer pressure of her presence caused Link to fall to his knees. She was right, he didn't want to hurt her. She was his friend and he was so tired of fighting. She had helped him find his way to the temples, free the Sages, and-
Why couldn't he hear the sages? At the very least Saria would try to speak with him when she could feel danger near or would listen when Link used her song to talk to her and tell her all about the people he'd met, the things he'd seen, and the gifts he was going to bring back to the forest. Why couldn't he hear them now? Why?
He looked up at her, the urge to fight Zelda and to reason with her rising. It'd been so easy before. There was a bad thing happening and he had to stop the bad thing! But Zelda wasn't bad so why she saying she was going to do such bad things? The sort of bad things she had wanted to stop in the first place? Surely he could keep her from doing it. She was not Ganondorf! She wasn't a bad thing! She would listen to him!
He raised his sword again, but even he knew it was half-hearted. He didn't resist when Zelda laid touched his wrist and pushed his hand aside. She knelt before him-or rather perched before him-and reached out to brush feathers along his cheek. How strange her face was now level with his! He stared up at her, the brightness making his eyes water, but he knew if only he could speak around the rising lump in his throat, he could make her understand!
"You, who are too kind-hearted, still too much a child, to ever intentionally wish harm on another human being. Why, if you were not still a child within that shell..." She paused, cocking her head to the side, then bowed her head, a hand moving for the pouch on his belt.
"Forgive me. I should right the wrong I have done you. You have completed your quest and what I have asked of you. It's time to be as you should."
Link drew away, or tried to. His back was already against the wall and the brilliance of her and the size of her gave him no way to get away. Try as he might, he couldn't resist beyond a half-hearted swat at her arm as she reached into the pack and drew out the smooth blue ocarina she had given him just before he went to sleep, the ocarina that let him speak to Saria even though she wasn't in this world anymore.
"See? You would never lay a hand upon me. You never have and you never will, not even the times when I rightfully deserved it. Not unless there was a chance I could 'survive' somehow. You are my champion, you always have been, despite my own foolish ways."
"But now? Now is the time I take my rightful place. This is my Kingdom and you, Link..."
The ocarina shined blue in her hand and Link felt his body twisting, the weight on him growing unbearable. He cried out, his hat slipping over his eyes and his arms weighted down. Rauru hadn't been lying when he'd told Link he was too small as a child to wield the Master Sword. It was almost as tall as he was now, blue eyes peering up at Zelda when he shook off a too big gauntly and pushed his hat back to see once more. He couldn't even move the arm holding his shield! The weight of it pulling made him believe his arm would fall off at any moment!
"You deserve to rest," Zelda said softly, feathers running along his face as he pressed himself as close to the wall as he could get.
This was wrong. This was wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Zelda would've asked him if he wanted this first! She would have! He was supposed to be like Biggoron and be the biggest Kokiri so he could talk to adults and bring masks and toys and candies to Saria and the others and Zelda was supposed to be nice. His big body might've been strange, but that's who he was now, even if his mind hadn't caught up to it yet!
"Yes. I shall make sure no one takes my Kingdom from me ever again. And you? You will sleep. You will sleep in a place where only I may reach you to safeguard that precious Golden Power within you, only to awaken when it is truly safe. I will not let you fight for me again. Not after you were imprisoned for so many years, or how I made you chase after me, or…." Zelda shook her head and, for just an instant, the brilliance about her seemed to dim.
"No…. that was…."
The moment was gone, those wings pulling him close to her, the Master Sword clattering to the floor with such a note of finality he almost swore he heard it cry out. "Here, I will sing you a lullaby."
Light flowed from her as she began to sing, bright tendrils and song swirling about him, within him, making him dizzy and lightheaded and soothing his aching back and muscles. So soothing, he felt as if they were rising up, up, up into the sky. Beyond the clouds in a way, nothing but light and music surrounding them.
He could almost hear the words to go with it, in a nonsense language he had only heard in dreams. Despite part of his mind telling him not to do so, he found his eyelids getting heavy and his entire body sagging against Zelda. Her ministrations only stopped to unstrap the too big shield from his too small arm and soon, very soon, despite a little voice in the back of his head that sounded vaguely like a desperate Saria telling him this was wrongwrongwrong and he needed to wake up, wake up Link!-wake up now!-he found himself dozing off. A blessed relief after fighting for so long.
Zelda smiled, or the closest she could in this form, at the sleeping boy she cradled close, the light of the tower she'd made shining around them, ringing out with song. Here, he would be safe. Here, among the clouds, no one would be able to reach him but her and she would have no reason to ask him to fight again. He would need a bath and a change of clothes before she properly tucked him in to sleep, but no matter. It was refreshing, after hiding and trying to survive for so many years and what she needed to do once she had him tucked in, to have such a mundane task before her. She found she actually looked forward to it.
"Sleep well, Link," she said quietly, pressing her cheek to his downy hair. Of all the thousands and millions of possibilities she saw before her now, so many she could hardly keep them from tangling up together in her mind, the ones in which he peacefully slept now shined the brightest.
She would have to return the sword to its own sleep as well. Perhaps even beside Link's bed. Yes. They would both like that, wouldn't they? Sleeping beside the friend they got to meet in another life. The Sword's one and only wish for itself had been to meet him again; had it not?
"Dream of laughter and light and happiness and all the things you deserve," she said softly to the child in her arms, |Dream of all the things you should have, all the things you deserve after all I have put you through time and time again."
She stood then, picking him up and cradling him close to her. It was fitting he'd be a child this time around. Once Hyrule was truly and forever at peace, he could grow up knowing nothing more of monsters and the things that lurked in the dark. He could grow up happy with no shadows haunting him. And she? Well, she could be whatever he needed then, with Hyrule at peace, be it a princess or a goddess or a shadow or a monster. It did not matter to her so long as she was what was needed.
"I'll wake you when it's time to get up, sleepyhead."
Just like she used to do, when they lived among the clouds together oh so long ago.
1. This was born out of my playing LBW and wondering what sort of monster a corrupted Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom would turn into. Then my friend Jamie was all "DO IT" and here we are.
2. The original snippet I did for this was only five hundred words. This is now over five thousand.
3. I originally posted this on Ao3, which will have illustrations eventually! I'm just picky about my artwork so it will be a while before it gets posted.
4. Proxi is because I just could not think of a fairy name that sounded natural to the setting so I just went for the Hyrule Warriors reference.
5. I hope you guys enjoyed this. :)